fema and the u.s.rmy corps of engineers, are also making available generators of many different sizes that are ready to be deployed upon the request of any state. and as power is being restored throughout parts of florida and georgia, power crews are being moved into other states to assist with additional restoration efforts. we see power outage numbers improving where restoration teams are able to gain access to communities and the debris is cleared. once we get power restored, we can then get a lot of other things working again -- utilities, water utilities, in particular communication systems, medical and health care facilities are those capabilities that depend on the source of power supply to function. we're also very focused on restoring communications capabilities. fema, the fcc, and private telecommunications providers are working together to help restore temporary communications as quickly as possible, by establishing temporary cell sites and allowing for roaming where possible where a residen

with the assistance of fema and u.s. army corps engineers, working quickly through the resiliency and redundancy of the electric grid to ensure we can bridge the gap between current fleet and future of reliable affordable clean energy generation that we are working towards. we look forward to building a meaningful relationship with you and a brighter future for the puerto rican people. we're here to provide the community all the information it needs so we can work together to resolve issues which are extremely important. we are confident we can work together to ensure this is a successful energy system transformation that we can all be proud of the role we play in. thank you. >> thank you. the chair will recognize members for five minutes of questioning. my questions will first be directed to mr. soccer and mr. murray. luma took over operations in 2021. took over the operation of the thermal generation assets in 2023. would you please describe the challenges your respective companies inherited? >> first of all, it's an a

she went to fema headquarters today. authorities in north carolina said to wait before coming down, because of the unfolding emergency there. former president trump traveling to georgia. and his claim tonight about president biden and the governor of georgia. the governor said otherwise, and president biden just moments ago, furious, saying former president trump is lying. rachel scott from georgia tonight. >> reporter: tonight, vice president kamala harris at fema headquarters in washington, d.c., briefed on the deadly storm that gutted the southeast. >> to everyone who has been impacted by this storm, and to all of those of you who are rightly feeling overwhelmed by the destruction and the loss -- our nation is with you. and president biden and ai, and all of the folks behind me, are with you. >> reporter: harris cutting her campaign schedule short this weekend, flying back to washington. her team releasing this image -- the vice president on air force two after speaking with the head of fema. she has also spoken with

however, the fema administrator did say this week that with the continuing resolution passed, fema has the resources they need to deal with staffing and funding that they need to provide safety for the recovery. at least for this disaster, it seems that fema is well-equipped, but you are right, these disasters will continue coming and long-term solutions are needed. host: here's the femur direct -- fema director administrator from last week. [video clip] >> we have the resources needed for this event. everyone is aware that he went into immediate needs funding as the funding ran low. the reason we do that is to make sure that we have enough money for an event like this. we have exactly what we need in there are no limitations in terms of this disaster. as we continue to go through recovery for these disasters, it takes personnel and we will continue to work through with the states what they need and how we can adjudicate the resources, but we are seeing an increase with strain on the staff who have been more than deployed for longer amounts of time helping these communities to recover.

>> fema had to implement immediate needs funding, something at the beginning of august. they had been providing money to deal with disasters and that money had, was close to running out so they implemented funding which so they can deal with life saving measures but they have to put on hold money to go to longer-term rebuilding. so that means they are not able to fund these continual recovery projects in states and it leads to short fall and communities in the lurch waiting. host: now that helene is there with what happens now? pres. biden: we have seen the images from florida, confirms, georgia. we are seeing devastating flood ing over 100 deaths. what happens now is congress needs to provide a supplemental funding at the end of the year. what we saw passed last weeks allows fema to continue drawing money from current levels to help fund ongoing recovery efforts. but the first half administrator said as recently as last week that will run out by january and fema could implement pediatric needs as soon as january which would be unprecedented so there's a short fall now a

caitriona: what does fema resistance mean in a practical way?ean rebuilding someone's home, finding them a place to live in the short-term term, or what? jaclyn: fema's assistance program provides support for people with damage to their homes. we also have support for personal belongings. if you are an entrepreneur and your computer got ruined, we have assistance for that in select counties. but we also have -- our partners at sba also provide loan support for people asking to rebuild. for those who are uninsured, you can qualify for assistance up to the statutory limit. caitriona: do you have enough resources and people to do everything needed in the aftermath of this disaster? jaclyn: yes. right now, fema is actively responding. we have a federal family behind me actively at work. we want to ensure people the federal family is here to help recover, as long as it takes. we have personnel across the state, and we have used our search capacity to get more people on the ground to help people recover as quickly as possible. caitriona: both vice pre

more than 1,500 fema and federal peonhave been deployed to the region. we take you to an update of north carolina and the impact of the storm from governor roy cooper. governor cooper: thank you for joining us as we share the latest updates of hurricane helene's impacts. emergency officials continue our response to this dangerous storm particularly in the western part of our state. the priority now is saving lives. helene is causing life-threatening flash flooding, numerous landslides and downed trees causing power outages. flooding will continue through the weekend in some areas and may even occur in areas that don't typically flood. with the rain they were experiencing, this is the worst storm in history for western north carolina. the end of the rain is not the end of the threat. this fierce storm will move out of our state in the next 24 hours but the danger will not be over. tropical storm force winds that border on hurricane strength are happening right now across western north carolina. trees are falling causing widespread power outages. as of thi

and so when you look back since 1992, fema, a third of fema disaster relief funding has come in the form supplementals one, we've got to remove the politics away from fema and out of the disaster process. and we've got to come up with a more consistent funding process. >> and then again, one of the things that i'm most proud of, and when i was in office as we pass the building, resilient infrastructure, and communities program, we were able to get that program up and running to really start, you know having an honest conversation about what's got to be mitigated in the future so that we don't see our infrastructure going down as easily all right brock long for us this morning, former fema administrator, sir. thanks very much for being on the program. i really appreciate your time today thank you. >> kasie. thank you so much alright. >> still to come here after the break, ukraine's president zelenskyy, preparing to meet with donald trump i'll meet with president zelenskyy and we'll see what happens a growing divide among democrats and republicans over the war in ukraine of course, a defin

going to be speaking to this fema official and other people on the ground who were just trying to assess where their lives are now in the wake of this storm, they don't have a home, they don't have a business. >> they don't know where to turn to next so no it's so, so so right. and for all the folks out there was saying, hey, why aren't you guys covered this? we're covering it extensively on or you're covering and extensively. so hoping to get the word out there, so help us on the way certainly, that's that's our job, is to shine a spotlight on what's going on in all of this devastation. >> we're going to stay on top of it. jim, thanks for everything you did in your show to call attention to it and we have the whole next hour to do the same. >> have a good show. >> well, good morning. you are live at the cnn newsroom on this monday. i'm pamela brown in washington and we're so following breaking news this morning, we were just talking about this at any moment. president biden will speak on the federal relief efforts for hurricane helene, and we will of course, bring that to you live. one

i know she worked for obama at fema they made a big deal first fema female director.ust say she is the best qualified for the job. i don't know if she is or not. when they knew this hurricane was going to be big and they knew it for days, tulsi. we should have seen all of government as they like to call it approach. that should have been laid out right away. she was in nevada campaigning. i would guess if you ask the people of maui whether she is qualified and the right person to be in that job, almost a person every one of them would have said no. the very first thing they heard from her is when she stood proudly in the white house pressroom saying here's what we're doing for the people of maui. we have given $700 to every household that's been impacted by this fire. as though that was something that was worthy of applause or recognition. it is unfortunate the people of north carolina are facing a leadership in the white house who care more for bureaucracy rather than actually i can canning down the doors of that bureaucracy and getting out there and providing the he

in addition to fema and federal communication commission it establish communication, national guard, army corps of engineers and department of defense will provide all the resources to rescue and assist in clearing debris and delivering supplies. so far over 3,600 personnel are deployed and that is growing by the day. i approved requests of governors from florida, north carolina, south carolina, tennessee, georgia, virginia and alabama for emergency declaration. i approved additional requests for the governors of north carolina, florida, south carolina, and disaster declaration to pay for removal and provide financial assistance directly to survivors. fema and small business administration are there to help the residents was homes and businesses were destroyed, washed or blown away. a federal search and rescue teams have been working with state and local officials in partners in stretch respect conditions to find those missing. they will not rest until everyone is accounted for. i want to thank all of our first responders and everyone working around the clock. one of the brave teams

where is fema on this? is the problem that it is simply impassable to these areas or something else causing the choke getting them help? >> i can't answer that. i know we have major interstates and highways that are gone. they aren't passable right now. our department of transportation is working on that. we actually have helicopters dropping supplies in and out. i do know as of about 30 minutes ago, there has been some highways that are accessible to parts of the heavy hit areas. but to date we were actually still getting hold of house and senate members as of yesterday morning that we haven't heard from since thursday afternoon. >> harris: where are you? >> i'm in goldsboro, an hour east of raleigh. traditionally if you are dealing with flooding in our state, this is the area that it happens. so a lot of our folks here, churches, organizations, are teaming up to get supplies to deliver to our friends. in our time of need they helped us out and now it's time to help them. >> harris: have you ever seen anyt

president trump on the ground in the storm zone in georgia while vice president harris just spoke at fema headquarters in washington. garrett haake now has that part of the story for us. >> reporter: tonight former president trump visiting the storm zone in valdosta, georgia, coming with franklin graham's aid group, bringing trucks loaded with supplies and fuel. >> we're here today to stand in complete solidarity with the people of georgia. >> reporter: and hammering vice president harris for not being there herself. >> of course the vice president, she's out someplace campaigning, looking for money. >> reporter: the quality of the federal storm response could have a major political impact on the vice president, who's hoping to repeat president biden's narrow 2020 georgia win. harris was briefed aboard air force two, cutting campaigning short in las vegas to return to washington. meeting with fema officials tonight. >> we will do everything in our power to help communities respond and recover. i plan to be on the ground as soon as possible. but as soon as possible without disrupting any e

fema is on the ground in north carolina and she will stay in nashville and that is for the foreseeable future. there have been reports of over 100 dead and there are reports of up to 600 people un accounted of up to 600 people uaccounted for. god willing they are alive but there's no way to contact them because of lack of cell phone coverage. i directed my team to use every available resource as fast as possible to again rebuilding. in in addition to fema and federal communication commission to establish communication, national guard, army corps of engineers, and department of defense will provide all the resources at its disposal to rescue and assist in clearing debris and delivering supplies. so far, over 3,600 personnel are deployed and that is growing by the day. i approved requests of governors from florida, north carolina, south carolina, tennessee, georgia, virginia, and alabama for an emergency declaratio. r i approved additional requests for the governors of north carolina, florida, south carolina, and disaster declaration to pay for removal and provide financial assistance di

kamala harris heads to washington to get a briefing from fema late this afternoon. from valdosta, let's begin this hour with alexandria hoff. >> former president trump will be arriving here later this afternoon. he plans to get a briefing on the devastation and deliver remarks and help distribute some supplies. the need for help here is abundantly clear. you have to look around and drive around a little bit and stunning. 30,000 people are still without power here. georgia power estimates services won't be restored until saturday at the earliest including other parts of the state as well. georgia alone the overall death toll has reached at least 15. that includes children. eerie, pennsylvania last night former president trump sent love and prayers to the families of those who lost their lives. >> all of those who are displaced and suffering in the wake of the hurricane's destruction and the south especially in florida, georgia, alabama, tennessee and in particular western north carolina took a tremendous hit, it has been absolutely devastated and god be with you all.

of the governor said, were here with fema today to retake an opportunity to survey the damage not just here in buncombe county but in the western counties that have been so significantly impacted by this event. we currently have 15 county eeoc's that remain open with 31 states of emergency in place. of the 92 search and rescue assets that the governor mentioned, three of those are federal teams, 22 are from other states, and 54 organic north carolina. and really cannot overstate the importance of partnership both here in north carolina as well as the support that we have had from our colleagues in other states as well as the federal government. today, we are continuing to wrap up -- grandpa pushes our commodities particularly water and employees as well as fuel and other resources into the impact communities. we are increasing the number of assets we have on the road and in the air to be able to make those moves as well as working with fema to be able to sustain those levels over the next couple of weeks. as we look over the horizon, at what the duration of this event and the recovery

you guys can go and apply at disasterassistance.gov, a fema website. you can go to the fema app and call in on their one 800 number and the second thing is if you are in need of temporary travel trailer to put on your property while you need help with home repairs, go to the hope florida website and fill out the information there and that will route over. we have over 1700 travel trailers ready to go in the state right now and ready to do more and we need to do that. governor, thank you for your leadership and everything you're doing to help floridians. >> you want to give an update? ok. well, we appreciate everyone's hard work. there is a lot more that could be done. i talked to the mayor here and they will be meeting tomorrow about doing some stuff to maybe help some of the folks that had storm damage and we do have individual assistance with fema and we do think we are going to get the transitional housing approved so if you have damage to your home, you can stay in a hotel and get reimbursed from that. that's an option in a place at the tampa bay a

resources coming not only from fema but also from the s.p.a.nne: there's a am in of programs that are available. for fema we specifically made some changes into our disaster declaration, the stafford act, recently, which allows people that work from home to actually get compensated for some of their business losses if they work from home. like if they had a computer or other equipment that they needed to do their personal, if they're a photographer and lost their cameras. we made that change recently in march to be able to compensate small business owners that work from home. s.b.a. can speak spirvegly about their programs but they've also made some really amazing changes this year which increases the dollar amount that people can borrow from the s.b.a. it extends the time where they're going to delay the interest until they have to pay it or to start to repay that loan and it's a tremendous resource to really help small businesses get back on their reporter: how do you decide where to position yourself tomorrow with the storm making landfall?

in maui the $700 was the fema limit.trump and his supporters are running the same old tired playbook that they did with maui and east palestine. not only was joe biden on top of it, he signed the declarations before the storms hit to make sure there would be no delay in goods and services. donald trump's social media post -- governor kemp gave a press conference. i just spoke to the president. he promised me every single thing that i need. also a conservative getting everything that he wants and roy cooper as well. there's only one president we are talking about who has denied relief for one of the states in 2017. roy cooper asked after hurricane mathew for a lot of money. he got 1%. they denied 99% of what he was asking for out of that hurricane. there are 3300 fema personnel. 5500 national guardsmen from 11 states in search and rescue from 19 states. that doesn't reduce the devastation of this and how horrific it is. to say that joe biden and kamala harris are out to lunch during this or they are sitting on a beach rec

>> what is fema focused on that maybe the state and local authorities are doing something else. how does it get delegated? >> well, the first thing he has fema since there folks and to the state emergency operation centers. and ideally, we're not really looking at this as each level of government tried to figure things out there, working as one team where fema has really focuses on the state's unmet needs, resources they may need from everybody, from the army corps of engineers to those supplies that are needed in those states. but female also be looking at what long-term recovery looks like, how many homes have been destroyed? what is housing going to look like? you know, a lot of the programs that theme will do will be based upon the availability of hotels and motels where there's parts of these areas that's not going to be an option temporary housing mission, whether they need to bring in trailers to provide longer-term housing and then the issue of permanent work to rebuild. and the key thing here is to make sure that as we're rebuilding from these disasters we're not just p

and you see right here, wolf you can see the fema vehicles. this is lake floor where we've seen so many first responders going in there still going through all of this this debris because this is still an active search and rescue. there are people that are still so when accounted for wolf. and this is far out as they're letting us go through the police line right here it's going to take a long time for these communities to recover. we've heard from so many, including the governor days, weeks months, if not years including the mayor of a nearby town over here. here who said that 50% of his neighbors all lost their homes. we'll all lost their homes. this is going to take awhile. >> yes. so heartbreaking, they need everything you make a good point. isabel rosales in north carolina for us. thank you very much. i want to go to the white house right now. that's where president biden just announced his plan to visit the disaster zone in north carolina since kayla tausche, she has found that first kayla tell us, first of all what the president is sayi

latest on the federal and state response to hurricane helene prior to his landfall in florida with fema's administration deanne criswell discussing the storms path and. [inaudible]. 's questions on president biden his meeting with ukrainian president vladimir zelevinsky and the israel hamas war. [background sounds]. >> hi everybody and good afternoon. [background sounds]. >> okay, so the president has been briefed on hurricane helene and then his direction, administration officials are in contact with the local and estate counterparts to ensure that they have everything they need. this week the president approved emergency disaster declaration requests the governors of florida, north carolina and georgia. and under lock federal resources to reach unlock additional resources to help lycÉe's response to the storm. in the entire binary administration, the stand ready to provide further assistance and practice states as needed we continue to urge the residence especially those who have been instructed to evacuate need warnings local officials and with that i have here the fema administrator a

fema, the federal emergency management agency. see with a storm of this magnitude, pete affecting so many states in the southeast. what are famous priorities right now? where do they begin what will be begin days ago? >> so the president did of pre-landfall declaration that allowed states like florida and georgia, tennessee to take action for the impact of disastrous and fema and our federal partners, everyone from health and human services to hud, coast guard, ami corps of engineers. they had down there working through the problem set right now what, what can these areas that have been devastated specifically expected the days and weeks ahead yes so the first thing i would do is he the direction from your local emergency managers and local elected officials that they know best about your specific area. >> but he did directions and this part of the storm, the storm has already passed it's a it's a tropical depression at this point. but this is where many injuries happened post along things like generators inside a garage or incite

for a fema briefing. it comes as their running mates gear up for tomorrow night's debate. >>> just in tonight, u.s. officials saying israel appears to have begun a limited ground incursion inside lebanon. after a series of small raids. our richard engel in beirut tonight. >>> the dangerous mid-air encounter. a russian plane nearly colliding with a u.s. fighter jet. >>> the massive outage for verizon. tens of thousands of reports of service disruptions. >>> the man who served more than 20 years for a murder he didn't commit. our cameras in court for the moment he is exonerated. and our conversation. we ask how does it feel to get his good name back. >>> and celebrating a century. the birthday bash as former president jimmy carter reaches a major milestone. >> announcer: this is nbc "nightly news" with lester holt. >>> good evening and welcome. these are desperate hours in the storm zone tonight, now four days after making landfall in florida the aftermath of hurricane helene still inflicting maximum pain o

the order of operations is at fema gives us a tentatively approved award and then we get it approve d by the board and mayor and then we submit that resolution to fema and then they declare after they received the resolution so finally approved. >> okay. shouldn't be problematic? >> no, we went through the same processes in 2020 and i don't expect any problems. >> okay. great. >> any other questions? do we have anyone with public comment in the room? okay. not seeing any, we'll move to our next item. this item is on response. we just did the planning update, this is on response. our deputy director, adrian kelly is going to present on recent activations of the emergency operation center. as hopefully most people know, the eoc is the coordinating body that insures the effective coordination, support, situational awareness and public messaging related to emergencies that impact san francisco. we will basically this is place all the staff goes and the plan that presented at the eop is the operation plan for the eoc. adrian will go ahead and present what we have done over the last year. >

again, fema will want all the documentation. take the pictures now. if you're cleaning up, use the appropriate gear, and i know it's not fashionable, but wear safety goggles and gloves and a hardhat. be safe if you're out there operating. these are all forgettable deaths and injuries and can 100% prevent that. please don't attempt to clean up that material on your own. we have nonprofit organizations. you heard the governor talk about hope, florida. you can go to their website and put in the requested assistance you need. we're trying to get everyone to go to the portal and start triaging that and get people to you and the cleanup crisis line is open. we have people to help do you that. no reason to put yourself in any type of danger. don't cut lines. you're not an expert for what is a fiber-optic or cable or electric line. our 911 centers across the state run on cable and if you cut a fiber-optic line you may be cutting out communication to a 911 center especially at a residential area. we beg you not to cut lines. when you start taking debris to the

climate change is clearly putting a strain on fema's resources and fema has recently implemented what's called the immediate needs funding, which means fema is so low on funds, that it has to pause paying for certain past disaster recovery projects so they can focus on life saving and life sustaining activities, which of course, we support. we want to make sure that we're saving lives in real-time. those struggling day-to-day don't get the immediate funding that they need to do that and towns in vermont, really small towns. vermont is a rural state and you have the tiny towns in vermont who are really crushed by the costs of recovering from these flogged episodes. so, you know, i'm frustrated because we have a situation where republicans in congress have brought to the floor what i see as another unserious government funding proposal. it doesn't meet fema's funding needs. i really urged them to come back to the table so we can reach a bipartisan agreement and a responsible agreement to fund the government because climate change is coming for all of us, for every congressional district.

they have 3,300 federal people on the ground with fema, making sure people are getting food. so i do think the federal government responses then there's always been spd with the president on these types of disaster situations, but it is political and i understand why he wants to be there for a photo-op. i just the amount of resources you pull it's really not appropriate to be on the ground right now, also posted today on social media that he was hearing that the federal government wasn't giving funding to parts of the state that were maga and there's no evidence about that. he has made this political, even though he didn't do that behind the microphone, he has made this political on social media already. >> he did insinuate, to your point? yes. >> shortly before we came back to studio, that he had spoken to governor brian kemp of georgia. >> right. and that governor can but had some difficulty getting in touch with president biden, but a quick fact check there the white house has pointed out that biden had a conversation not only with governor kemp, but also with governor roy

fema is actively involved.e asked people not to travel through the area because some places are impassable. so, we are thankful for all the help being given. host: where in north carolina do you live and where you largely impacted? caller: not largely. i live in the durham area, durham raleigh. i just wanted to make that comment, help is here, help is being sent. right after that person talked, there were cameras and trucks with food and water up in boone and asheville. so, you know, just to correct that situation, those comments. host: ok. christine, new york state, republican line, hello. caller: i would like to make a comment and the american people to return with an answer. vp harris is currently campaigning 90% for presidency. yes, good morning, i would like to make a comment, if i may, and get an answer. vp harris is currently campaigning 90% for presidency, not functioning 100% as vp by the people. not a primary candidate voted for by the people. when it comes to the senate electrical vote for presidency

he said that fema administrator is still on the ground there. he also talked about how the resources are being used. he said the federal communications commission is there, the national guard, the department of defense, the coast guard, the national guard, all being used on the ground as these recovery efforts really just get under way. he aimed to reassure these residence struggling and said, quote, we are not leaving until the job is done. on a potential presidential visit, as we often see sitting presidents do in the aftermath of these massive storms, he said, he, quote, expects to be there later this week, possibly by wednesday or thursday. he said that he has told the governor of north carolina, roy cooper, of his intention to visit, but, again, talked about the potential strain that a presidential visit could have as critical resources are still being used in recovery efforts. he said he is in constant contact with state leaders and that there are more than 3,000 federal personnel deployed in the region right now. he talked about the emerg

fema administrator deanne criswell joins us for an update on the recovery efforts. thanks for being here. what can you share about the latest death toll from this devastating hurricane? >> hi, good morning, robert. right now i'm here in florida and i believe yesterday as i traveled with the governor to assess damages there, he accounted for 11 deaths here. i would refer to the states for the specific numbers, because they are the ones that are tracking this. what i can tell you is we are getting reports of multiple fatalities across the five states. >> which regions have been hardest hit? >> so this has been, robert, a true multistate event. we have seen -- i have seen, my team on the ground has seen significant impacts in florida, georgia, south carolina, north carolina, and tennessee. i saw the impacts here in florida yesterday. i'm traveling to georgia today so i can see the impacts firsthand there. i'll be in north carolina on monday so i can assess the impacts there. but we're hearing significant infrastructure damage to water systems, communication, roads, cri

fema is actively involved. they have asked people not to travel through the area because some places are impassable. so, we are thankful for all the help being given. host: where in north carolina do you live and where you largely impacted? caller: not largely. i live in the durham area, durham raleigh. i just wanted to make that comment, help is here, help is being sent. right after that person talked, there were cameras and trucks with food and water up in boone and asheville. so, you know, just to correct that situation, those comments. host: ok. christine, new york state, republican line, hello. caller: i would like to make a comment and the american people to return with an answer. vp harris is currently campaigning 90% for presidency. yes, good morning, i would like to make a comment, if i may, and get an answer. vp harris is currently campaigning 90% for presidency, not functioning 100% as vp by the people. not a primary candidate voted for by the people. when it comes to the senate electrical vote for p

the people are still waiting for fema to take care of them. you better stop putting your faith in the government. host: those things you issued you hope people are not single issue voters, what did you mean? caller: if you're just going to vote on abortion rights or voter integrity -- everybody is worried about project 2025. we have potentially hundreds of thousands of noncitizens voting in this election. why don't we address that? let's couple that with voter integrity. nobody seems to be doing that. we only care about some made up project 2025 krapp. wake up america. chemical fires. our country is being destroyed from within. caller: the issues -- host: the ise she talks about is the issue texters have talked about. he says he is single issue. "i will vote against killi babies because killing babies is annation to god." michael saying i am a single issue v "my issue is saving this democratic republic from donald trump and republicans tried to destroy it. without a stable government none of these issues matter. " >> not convicted, let off on

this is no fault of fema's.it's all a result of the catastrophic weather events that have been occurring rapidly, frequently throughout our country. and in vermont. this past year and a half has brought brutal floods in vermont, and terrible fires, hurricanes, and tornadoes across our country. louisiana right now is bracing for the worst as hurricane francine moves on shore, and our prayers in vermont are with the people of louisiana. we know their heartbreak and their pain right now. these communities, and it's especially the case with rural communities, cannot weather these storms alone. some of those that are hardest hit are being financially destroyed. it's a function of the effects of climate change. those communities don't have the resources to dig out, make repairs, and rebuild in the resilient way required for the future. they can't handle a 100-year flood, and many in flood have had two 100-year floods in a year, and some towns even three in 12 or 13 months. madam president, it's very important that dis

but fema is ready to respond with crews already strategically staged nearby. i want people to know there's no limitation to our ability to come in and help from the agency had to dip into its immediate needs funding earlier this year to make sure it had enough money for a storm like this. and criswell says recovery projects could see more delays if congress doesn't pass a full budget later this year without a supplemental will find ourselves an immediate needs funding probably early next in the meantime, krystal says more help is available to people who need it. most, including a new serious needs assistance program can give a small amount of money. $750. >> and some of the impacted areas really quickly for things like last food and so criswell says fema can also now reimburse homeowners who are under insured in these situations. >> in washington, i'm jessi tenure. >> all right. we'll quickly look here at the bay area, but our focus is on florida. yeah. chief meteorologist lawrence karnow here talking leanin man. she's mean, yeah. very mean. a monster storm re

thank you so much for joining us from fema. we're gonna have more on our breaking news as we are closely following the aftermath. hurricane helene in north carolina. also tracking major developments in the middle east. we'd back in just a moment walz and j.d. >> vance in their first and only face-to-face debate. and cnn has covered with the best political team in the business a cnn special event, the place presidential debate. tuesday at nine on cnn. >> what's the greatest invention of all time, new hands-free skechers, slip-ins. you just slipped in and they're on it's like they have an invisible built-in shoehorn. so your foot slides into place without bending down or touching your shoes, then he'll pillow technology keeps your foot coffee and secure hands free, sketch your slippers t-mobile's 5g network next 100,000 delta employees. >> so they can make every customer feel like they've arrived before they've left the ground. this is how business goes further with t-mobile forbids life is not always a straight line. they are no

we should have seen joe biden at fema headquarters this weekend, should have seen kamala harris at femauarters this weekend, as president trump was the day hurricane laura hit as he repeatedly did. trump should be commended for going to georgia. what he is doing is putting a light on a huge issue. a lot of complaining over the weekend about other news organizations. we've covered it here at fox. he is putting a light, attention, resources. money will flow and because he chose to show up. why have we heard from desantis over and over and kemp and cooper in north carolina, and it took until monday to hear from joe biden. the governors have been visible, trump is visible. >> and cooper. let's talk him for a moment. this is a democratic governor who is having to do what he has to do on the ground. i have all respect for use the resources around you, but some people don't have the resources. they don't have clean drinking and cleaning water and all the like. whatever they are being exposed to water, we know it was a lifeline in all of this. that was the first thing on this list. fuel, equipm

are you worried that local officials and fema might not have full visibility of the problems. and also that this death toll could jump once we get more cams well, i've i've seen this happened before and tornadoes, floods, and hurricanes, where we need to be careful not to equate people missing or unaccounted for would people who've lost their lives a lot of this is communications will improve. >> we'll start getting people checking in. i'm not saying there won't be more for loss of life, but i've seen this where people have taken the people missing or people not accounted for equate that to loss of life. and that's not something we generally see. so i would just reassure people that is communication comes up. we'll get a better idea of how people are doing. and we're already getting reports that while these areas are cut off, he had to report earlier where they're having to go in by foot to get some of these areas. so just because we still have a lot of people on account for debt, does hopefully does not mean that is the number of people who've lost. >> yeah, that's a very goo

but fema is ready to respond with crews already strategically staged nearby.ant people to know that that there's no limitation to our ability to come in and help them. the agency had to dip into its immediate needs funding earlier this year to make sure it had enough money for a storm like this. and criswell says recovery projects could see more delays if congress doesn't pass a full budget later this year without a supplemental will find ourselves an immediate needs funding probably early next in the meantime, krystal says more help is available to people who need it. most, including a new serious needs assistance program that can give a small amount of money. $750. >> and some of the impacted areas really quickly for things like last food and so forth. criswell says fema can also now reimburse homeowners who are under insured in these situations. >> in washington, i'm jessi tenure. >> all right, to 21 this afternoon live. look now at tampa, florida. >> we can start to see the effects of hurricane helene impacting residents there. >> let's check in now with k

the dedication and passion of those men and women in fema from before a disaster is even declared and they stand up the national response coordination center to delivering service, staying wherever they need to stay in the cases of the twentysomething hurricanes when there were not facilities, staying in people's garages and working 12 hours minimum a day for months and months on end, it is amazing and it is supplemented by a contingent workforce that only comes on when the need arises that is equally dedicated to the health and safety of our people. >> i have been tremendously impressed by the dedication, whether it is in puerto rico, after the hurricanes there, or in connecticut or elsewhere in the country by the dedication of our civil service employees. thank you all for being here and for your work on this very important initiative. >> thank you. >> currently, there are nearly 4000 political appointee positions throughout the federal government. most presidents have a very difficult time filling a majority of those positions. they are left unfilled. my question, i'm going to ask

so i think fema, we learned that you got to prepare for the communities you serve, not what fits your. for undocumented residents, this is the hard one, congress has been very clear that fema cannot provide direct financial assistance. we can provide emergency services. there has never been -- we can't get water, food or emergency shelter to folks, but the traditional we're going to give you funding to rebuild, that's prohibited. and that's why we work very closely with our charitable organizations. catholic charities and red cross and salvation army and the whole world out there of the volunteer agencies. and we kind of do a triage. one of the things that does exist, however, is as long as one member of the family is a u.s. citizen, even if that's a baby born in the u.s., they can apply on behalf of the whole family. so, you know, you and i know this, we worked these issues going back as far as hurricane andrew, we oftentimes have to piece together assistance for our undocumented families. and so that's something unfortunately we actually got a lot of experience at here in florida. >

the dedication and passion of those men and women in fema from before a disaster is even declared and they stand up the national response coordination center to delivering service, staying wherever they need to stay in the cases of the twentysomething hurricanes when there were not facilities, staying in people's garages and working 12 hours minimum a day for months and months on end, it is amazing and it is supplemented by a contingent workforce that only comes on when the need arises that is equally dedicated to the health and safety of our people. >> i have been tremendously impressed by the dedication, whether it is in puerto rico, after the hurricanes there, or in connecticut or elsewhere in the country by the dedication of our civil service employees. thank you all for being here and for your work on this very important initiative. >> thank you. >> currently, there are nearly 4000 political appointee positions throughout the federal government. most presidents have a very difficult time filling a majority of those positions. they are left unfilled. my question, i'm going to ask

biden has been briefed on fema's response and intense to travel to affected communities this week.risen to at least 89 people including 30 people in north carolina alone. biden approved a major disaster declaration for north carolina earlier today. north carolina governor, roy cooper, joins me by phone now. goff forcooper, thank you very much. given all that's happening in your state for being here. at the top of the show, we played a sound of you saying people in your state are desperate for help. give us an update on where things are now? >> this is obviously catastrophic event historic. they have never seen anything like it. and our priority is to get people out. the fact we have so many that are impassable as it is very difficult to get supplies in by land, and why we are working to get supplies to people by air. i just got off the phone with the president about an hour or so ago. i've been talking with administrators. and she's coming tomorrow, as we will be out there working to make sure we are getting assistance to people as quickly as possible. i'm grateful for the first re

>> reporter: and trump suggested elon musk provide satellite service to restore wi-fi, even though fema is already doing so. we asked him if this historic storm had asked trump would look at a new approach on a key issue? >> when you look about climate change, are you stressing about it? >> not too much. >> reporter: downtown is shuttered with generator power, candy balmer's restaurant is serving meals for those who need them street side. >> our focus is on our community, not any celebrity or politician that comes in. >> reporter: meanwhile president biden said he is demanding direct federal response. first from delaware them back at the white house this weekend. >> my responsibility is to get all help needed to those impacted areas. >> reporter: with absentee ballots already distributed, there is another recovery issue to our north in north carolina. cbs news has learned the state board of elections had an emergency meeting about the damage and said they will have a successful election no matter the damage. norah. >> norah: scott macfarlane, thank you for being there. at this time tomo

and fema has implemented immediate needs funding, fema is so low on funds that it has to pause paying for certain past disaster recovery project to focus on life saving and life sustaining activity. that we support, make sure that we're saving lives in real-time. but what happens then is focus who are struggling day to day to put their live box in order -- back in order don't get immediate funding they need to do that, towns in vermont, small, vermont is a rural state, you have the tiny towns, who are really crushed by the cost of recovering from the flooding episodes, i am frustrated because we have a situation where republicans in congress brought to floor what i see another unserious government funding proposal. it doesn't meet fema funding needs, i really urge them to come back to the table to reach a bipartisan agreement and responsible treatment to fund the government, climate change is coming for all of us. for every congressional district. and rural is rural whether you're rural vermont or rural kentucky or ohio. these tiny towns are not going to be able to withstand the finan